Page 13

G iving them both a little burst of adrenaline, the Yukon hit another patch of ice, and Andy maneuvered to get the vehicle back under control. At least when the winds had hit the Yukon, the vehicle wasn’t shoved off the road because it was top-heavy. She was also glad they had a full tank of gas.

“You tried to kill me! You can’t arrest me! You are a couple of crooked cops. I’m bleeding to death! I’m going to die! You’re going to be charged with my murder. I’ll make sure of it! You stole my vehicle! That’s more charges!” Harvey yelled from the hatchback.

Andy reached over and squeezed Monica’s hand. She smiled at him. She wasn’t worried about Harvey charging them with anything. She was more concerned about getting him medical attention, more than they could give him with their limited first aid supplies.

Then she thought she smelled drugs in the back seat of the Yukon. She lifted her nose, took a deep breath, and then released it.

“Do you smell them too?” Andy asked.

“Yeah. Heroin.”

Andy pulled the Yukon over, and Monica got out of the vehicle and checked the backseat. “Ahh, white powdered stuff in bricks under the front seats.”

Andy glanced over the back seat. “Definitely heroin.”

“You can’t search my vehicle! I didn’t give consent to search my Yukon! It’s illegal to search my vehicle without a search warrant. It’s an illegal search!” Harvey said.

“I liked him better when he was passed out.” Monica climbed back into the passenger’s seat and closed the door.

“Hell, a polar bear attacked me in the lobby of my motel,” Harvey suddenly said, as if the comment about him being passed out finally made him remember what had happened to him. “I was knocked out. I didn’t just…pass out. You must have hidden so the bear didn’t kill you.”

“A polar bear? Have you been taking drugs or drinking?” Monica asked.

“No, I didn’t take anything. You know that. And I didn’t have anything in my vehicle. You planted those. You saw the bear. He knocked me out.”

“You tripped on your own two feet after you tried to kill me and fell and hit your head,” Monica said. “Thankfully, or I would have had to shoot you again.”

“I would have gotten you first.”

He probably would have shot her if Andy hadn’t barged into the lobby to protect her and taken Harvey down.

“Yeah, then you would have been arrested for murder. As it is, we arrested you for attempted murder.” Andy was all growly.

“I’m dying back here! Get me out of here! I need help right now!”

They saw lights up ahead through the fog of snow, and their hopes were renewed that the road was clear ahead.

“Headlights,” Monica realized no one was coming toward them, which made no sense.

Then the disaster unfolded before them.

“Multiple car accidents ahead.” Andy slowed down.

The headlights were shining in all kinds of different directions. Two cars were still on the road, looking like they’d sustained minor damage. Three other cars had sailed off the road down the embankments.

They didn’t see emergency vehicles flashing colored lights or sirens, declaring help was coming. Monica tried her phone, but still had no signal to call anyone. The accident must have just happened.

Andy stopped the vehicle, and he and Monica exited the Yukon to check on everyone.

“Let’s get anyone we can find and move them to the Yukon if we can. The heater will warm up some of the injured.” Monica grabbed her backpack with the first aid kit. “There’s another first aid kit by the heroin under the driver’s front seat. ”

“You can’t stop now! I’m dying back here! And you can’t bring a lot of bloody people into my car,” Harvey screamed.

“How are you feeling, Monica?” Andy grabbed Harvey’s first aid kit.

“Hey, you can’t use my first aid kit on some random people. That’s mine!” Harvey shouted from the hatchback.

“I used my first aid kit on you, so you need to replenish my supplies.” Monica slammed the door shut. “My back and hand feel better, Andy.” But it would take a couple more days to feel perfectly fine. “How about you?”

“The sprain is gone. I don’t want you to hurt yourself further.”

“Thanks. But I need to take care of them, too. I’ll heal up soon enough. We need to check on everyone and, if possible, move the vehicles out of the way. If they’re operable, maybe we can have the drivers drive them the rest of the way to White Bear.”

“Yeah. I’ll check the one car down the embankment. Two of the vehicles appear to have been heading away from White Bear. The ones in the ditch will have to be pulled out with a tow truck.”

Two men emerged from a car down the embankment. Both wore black jackets and hats, snow clinging to them as they climbed the embankment to the road. Since no one else had left their vehicles yet, she figured everyone was pretty shaken up. She hoped no one was badly injured.

The men looked similar: They had shaggy, wind-blown dark brown hair, were about six feet tall, and looked like they were related. However, neither appeared injured in the accident, which was a blessing.

“Are the two of you all right?” Andy called out to them.

Monica went to the vehicle below the road, opposite where the two men had emerged from their car to check on the occupants.

“Yeah, man, what a mess. What can we do to help?” the little stockier of the men asked.

“Check to see if anyone needs assistance. Are you sure you’re okay?” Andy headed instead to one of the cars still on the road, blocking it.

“Yeah, I mean muscle aches, bruises, but otherwise okay,” the other man said.

In the crumpled blue car down the embankment, now scarred with red paint and scraped clean metal, Monica found a mother and her two children in car seats, who looked to be about the ages of three and five.

Her heart went out to them for the terror they had experienced. Yet they weren’t crying, just looking a bit stunned. But the mom had a gash on her forehead and was bleeding.

“Ma’am, what’s your name?” Monica cleaned the wound and then covered it with a bandage.

The woman looked at her, but wasn’t focused on Monica’s face. She appeared dazed.

“Ma’am, can you tell me your name?”

She said nothing and leaned her head back against the headrest.

“Keep your eyes open, ma’am. I’m going to check on your girls. They’re yours, right?”

“Hmm.”

Monica left the door open and checked on the girls in the back seat, wearing fuzzy winter coats, hats, and snow boots. They were watching her, looking curiously at her, and, thankfully, not upset. “Are you girls okay?”

“Momma,” the oldest girl said, looking at her mom as if she wasn’t supposed to talk to a stranger.

“I’m…I’m here.”

“Are you all right, ma’am?” Monica asked over the seat, glad to hear her speaking.

“Yes, yes, where…what happened?”

“It looks like you were involved in a five-car collision.”

“What about my girls?”

“They’re okay. They’re just quiet. How are you doing?”

“My head hurts.”

“I’m going to move you to another car with the heat on.”

“What about the car seats?”

“I’ll just put you and the girls in the back seat to warm you up. Then I’ll come back and get them.” Monica moved to the driver’s side. “I’m going to help you to the car and then come and get the girls.”

“Can you take our blankets too?”

“Definitely. Do you have a first aid kit?” Monica did worry about Harvey being handcuffed in the rear of the Yukon, though he was secured to a bar in the back. She didn’t want him swearing at the mother and her daughters, but she had to get them into a vehicle that was operable.

“The…the first aid kit is in the trunk.”

“Can we use it?”

“Of course.”

Andy joined Monica down the embankment. “I’ve got the mother.” He helped the mother out of the car. Monica got the five-year-old out of her car seat and then carried her through the snow to the door where the three-year-old was sitting in her car seat.

Once Andy got the mother into the back seat of the Yukon, he came back to carry the older girl to the car. Monica carried the younger girl through the snowdrifts.

“What the hell,” Harvey said as Monica set the youngest girl in the back seat with her sister and mother. “I told you that you have to take me to the hospital now! And I don’t want anyone else in the car. Not you even.”

“Watch your language, or we’ll move you to another car and leave you in the cold.” Monica didn’t want to have to, but she would if he continued to give them trouble.

“You can’t do that. You already shot me,” Harvey said.

“Is he a criminal?” The mom sounded worried.

“Yeah, because he pulled a shotgun on me and shot at me. I didn’t have any choice but to shoot him.” Monica didn’t blame her for feeling unsettled. She made sure the kids and mom were okay. “I’ll return with your blankets.”

She grabbed the kids’ stuffed unicorns, purple fairy blankets, and the mom’s big red blanket.

When Monica returned to the Yukon, she handed the blankets and stuffed animals to the mom and kids. They cuddled together on one side of the back seat, the youngest on her lap, while Monica went to help Andy look for more accident victims.

Another car in the ditch had sunk into the snow, so she would need Andy’s help getting the driver out of his white sedan.

Then the two other men joined her. One was carrying a foldable shovel, and he began trying to dig out around the car door so they could reach the driver.

Monica used her uninjured hand to dig away the snow while the other man helped her. On the road, Andy helped a white-haired woman to the Yukon. The woman looked slightly wobbly and shaken, but she didn’t appear to be injured.

“What about Tom?” the older woman asked.

“I’ll assist him after I get you to the car.

” Then Andy helped her into the car and returned to the one on the road that was banged up, with one headlight dangling and the fender torn partly loose but looking drivable.

He brought her husband out of the car, and Tom walked on his own to the Yukon, but didn’t get in. He just watched what was going on.